
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993                   TAG: 9311210126
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOUSE WILL VOTE ON D.C. STATEHOOD

Supporters of District of Columbia statehood took their cause to the floor of Congress for the first time in history Saturday, winning a procedural battle that guarantees a precedent-setting vote on statehood in the House of Representatives today.

In a debate filled with passion and sharp disagreements, House members argued whether the district should remain subject to congressional control or become the country's 51st state. The outcome of the vote is not in doubt - even statehood's strongest advocates acknowledge that it will lose.

But supporters hailed Saturday's debate as statehood's inaugural appearance on the national political stage.

Its debut was not easy. A bipartisan coalition of statehood opponents tried to choke off debate and prevent today's vote, using a procedural maneuver that would have kept the issue off the House floor. Supporters beat back that effort, 252 to 172.

The debate, which lasted into Saturday night, echoed oft-stated arguments for and against statehood, but today's impending vote gave the rhetoric extra urgency.

Supporters, saying that the district lacks full representation in Congress and control of its own affairs, contended that they are asking for nothing more than justice. Opponents argued that the district was created not as a state, but as the seat of the federal government, and that it cannot become a state without a constitutional amendment.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the chief sponsor of statehood legislation, said, "We are debating whether at last to grant full citizenship to a group of people on whom every duty of citizenship has been imposed . . . Vote for statehood if only as a symbol of the citizens I represent."

But Rep. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., was typical of opponents who said the debate was at best a meaningless exercise for a lost cause.

Saturday's debate and today's vote are the result of almost three years' work by Norton and other statehood advocates, who say their best chance of winning support lies in giving their cause a high profile. They are far short of the votes they need but believe they can win a public relations victory even by losing.

by CNB